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A SKETCH 


OF THE 


HISTORY, ORIGIN MD DEYELOPMENT 


OF THE 


SOUTH CAROLINA PHOSPHATES 


COMPILED BY 

A. R. GUERARD, A. R. S. M. 

Mineralogist for the New Orleans Exposition for the 
Department of Agriculture, 

Columbia, S. C. 


CHARLESTON, S. C. 

Walker, Evans & Cogswell, Printers. 
Nos 3 Broad and 109 East Bay. 

3884. 
























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HISTORY, ORIGIN MD DEYELOPMENT 



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COMPILED BY 


A. R. GUERARD, A. R. S. M. 

Mineralogist for the New Orleans Exposition for the 
Department of Agriculture, 

Columbia, S. C. 


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1884 . 






















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A SKETCH 


OF THE HISTORY, ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
THE SOUTH CAROLINA PHOSPHATES. 


THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY. 

South Carolina, sometimes known as Charleston phosphate, 
was discovered in the latter part of 1867, at a place called 
“Lambs,” about twelve miles above Charleston, on the Ashley 
River. The marls of Carolina appear to have been known 
and identified by geologists as far back as 1797. In 1832 atten¬ 
tion was drawn by Mr. Ruffin, of Virginia, to the fact that 
these marls were valuable as a fertilizer ; and in 1848 Tuomey, 
in his Geological Report of South Carolina, speaks of irregular 
and water-worn fragments of marl stones, found in the Ashley 
River marl-beds, and claims for these a value far above the 
Virginia marls, because they contained from 1 to 10 per cent, of 
phosphate of lime. In 1850 Prof. Holmes, of Charleston, read 
a paper before the “ American Association for the Advance¬ 
ment of Science,” in which he described nodules of marl rock, 
referring to them as “ siliceous” masses. So-called “ rocks” or 
“ stones,” found lying on the surface of the land, or turned up 
in ploughing, were well known to old planters on the coast. But 
it is evident that, though these rocks or nodules were long 
an object of scientific investigation and local curiosity, the true 
nature and chemical composition of the Carolina phosphates 
were as yet unknown and unsuspected. It was not until 1867 
that the late Dr. St. Julien Ravenel, of Charleston, upon re¬ 
ceiving some specimens of these nodules, recognized their 
value, and pointed out their agricultural importance. The 
deposit m situ was discovered by Prof. F. S. Holmes, who, with 
Dr. Ravenel and Dr. Pratt, of Atlanta, shares the credit of a 
discovery which has proved and must continue to be a source 
of wealth to South Carolina, and a benefit to agriculture, both 
in this country and in Euiope, the importance of which cannot 
be estimated. It may seem strange that the value of this de¬ 
posit should not have been recognized before, when it was 
lying here, seen, but neglected, under the very eyes of geolo¬ 
gists and chemists some time after the agricultural use of 
phosphate of lime w r as known to the world. But South Caro¬ 
lina, before the war, being in a state of agricultural prosperity, 
there was, doubtless, less importance attached to this matter 



4 


than would otherwise have been the case; and as usual it was 
the necessity of effort, the demand for a means of livelihood, 
which led to the great discovery. By that wonderful provision 
of nature, which so often awes and impresses us, the aid was 
given, the supply was furnished, when the demand was 
greatest. 

The first company organized to excavate the phosphates was 
the Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company, which 
was formed with Northern capital, furnished by Messrs. Geo. 
1). Lewis and Frederick Ivlett. The first shipment of this com¬ 
pany was sixteen tierces by steamer Falcon, consigned to Geo. 
D. Lewis, Philadelphia, Penn. The manufacture of commercial 
fertilizers, under the chemical superintendence of Dr. St. J. 
Ravenel, had begun in Charleston shortly before this, using 
the Navassa phosphate as a source of phosphoric acid. Hence¬ 
forth native phosphate was substituted for the Navassa phos¬ 
phate, and, under Dr. Ravenal’s direction, new fertilizer works 
were put up to utilize the phosphate which was now being 
mined at home. 

OCCURRENCE AND CHARACTER OF THE PHOSPHATE DEPOSIT. 

The phosphate deposit occurs in beds or strata of rough 
masses or nodules, of a size varying from a part of an inch to 
several feet in diameter, and is associated with numerous fossil 
bones and teeth. It is found on the bottoms of the shallow 
creeks and rivers which intersect the coast, and on the low 
lands which form a belt of country running parallel to and 
from ten to fifty miles from the seaboard. The beds are from 
0 to 20 odd inches in thickness, and the limit of a workable 
deposit is 8 feet under ground, or 20 feet under water. The 
phosphatic nodules are known as land or river rock, according 
to the element in which they are found. The average yield 
of the land deposit is 600 to 800 tons per acre, and though 
sometimes occurring in “pockets,” that is, irregularly, these 
deposits are remarkably uniform, many contiguous acres often 
containing a phosphate-bearing stratum at an accessible depth. 
The river rock, having been washed into the rivers from the 
land, has occasionally accumulated in thicker beds than the 
original deposit of land rock. The river rock is obtained by 
dredging, chiefly in the Bull, Stono and Coosaw Rivers ; the 
land rock is dug mainly in the section of country lying be¬ 
tween the Ashley and Stono Rivers, and Rantowle’s Creek. 
Extensive strata of excellent quality are also known on the 
banks of the Edisto, and between the Edisto and Ashepoo 
Rivers, but this deposit has not yet been worked to any extent. 
About and below Beaufort occur a number of very heavy beds 
of river rock, but generally of lower grade. 

The land rock is lighter in color than that found under 
water or marsh mud, the former having a yellowish or pale 
brown color, the latter a dark gray or bluish black. The river 


o 


rock is considerably harder than that occurring in the land 
deposit, but either variety may be readily ground to a powder 
so fine that it floats in the air (so-called floats). Carolina 
phosphate gives out, when rubbed, a peculiar fetid odor, the 
denser it is, the more conspicuous the odor, due to the pres¬ 
ence of organic matter. It is very porous, some of it being 
capable of absorbing 15 or 20 per cent, of water. The surface 
of the nodules is frequently indented with holes and cavities 
naturally filled with clay and J-and, which require to be care¬ 
fully washed out; when the washing is imperfectly performed 
the phosphate is of lower quality. Carolina phosphate is re¬ 
markably uniform in composition, containing, on an average, 
from 55 to 01 per cent, tricalcic phosphate, and from 5 to 11 
per cent of carbonate of lime. Among its other constituents 
are silica, oxide of iron, fluorine, sulphuric acid, traces oi 
alumina and magnesia, water and organic matter. 

ORIGIN OF TIIE PIIOSPHATIC DEPOSIT. 

The question of the origin of the phosphate of lime in this 
deposit has, as yet, received too little study to afford a satis¬ 
factory theory. But it awakens such general, as well as scien¬ 
tific interest, in the mind-* of all who have seen or heard of the 
deposit, that it may not be amiss to state, briefly, the several 
hypotheses which have been advanced. One of these as¬ 
sumes that the fragments of marl were charged with the 
sweepings from guano beds formed above them by the con¬ 
gregation there, at some past period, of vast flocks of birds ; 
in this case bones of the birds should be among the fossils 
preserved in the deposit, but no such remains have been found. 
Another theory supposes that as the remains of numerous ex¬ 
tinct animals, such as the mastodon, elephant, megatherium, 
tapir, deer, horse, etc., occur associated with the beds, immense 
herd* of these animals must have collected at one time about 
shallow salt licks or lagoons, formed during a partial sub¬ 
mergence of the coast, in which the nodules of marl were left 
upon the recession of the sea, and that the phosphoric acid 
derived from their bones and excrements brought about the 
change in the marl. It is objected to this theory that the places 
where the most bones, etc.,are found are not the richest in phos¬ 
phate, and while it is by no means probable that the nodules 
were in all, or even in most instances formed where they are 
at present found, it is difficult to suppose that agencies of such 
local and restricted character as salt licks could account for 
the conversion of so great a mass of material, over an area so 
extensive as that presented by the phosphate formation ; that 
a similar deposit found at a depth of seventy feet in the arte- 
sion well borings in Charleston could not be explained in this 
way. The most plausible theory advanced as an explanation 
of the formation of these nodules is that certain marine or¬ 
ganisms, or mollusks, possess the power of secreting phos- 


6 


phorie acid from sea-water, and that through them the marl, 
and especially the upper strata, became charged with a certain 
amount of phosphate of lime. That the proportion of the 
phosphate of lime thus obtained to the whole body of the su¬ 
perficial layers of the marl was afterwards increased ; first, by 
the removal of a considerable amount of carbonate of lime, 
rendered soluble by the percolation through it of rain water 
containing carbonic acid, derived from the decomposition of 
vegetable matter in the soil overpaying the marl ; second, by a 
well known proneness of phosphoric acid, when diffusely dis¬ 
tributed, to concentrate and to give rise to concretionary pro¬ 
cesses similar to those observed in the flint nodules and peb¬ 
bles of the English chalk, and in other formations. This 
theory agrees with the diffused occurrence of phosphate of 
lime in the superficial layers of the marl, as well as with the 
fact that the upper layers of the deposits and the outside of 
the nodules are the richest in phosphate. It substitutes for a 
local cause a general one, commensurate at once with the wide 
area occupied by the phosphate rock, and by the phosphatic 
marls of the South Atlantic sea board. Such a cause also 
might have been in operation ages ago, when the layers of 
phosphate rock found in the artesian well borings were form¬ 
ing; and it may be in operation now, as the dredging work of 
the United State-* Coast Survey shows that the marls accumu¬ 
lating at the depth of 200 fathoms on the floor of the Gulf 
Stream, between Florida and Cuba, contain a considerable 
percentage of phosphate of lime, (see Hand Book of State of 
South Carolina, and Emmons’ report to Pacific Guano Com¬ 
pany, 1876). 

TIIE WORKING OF TIIE LAND DEPOSIT. 

Having carefully examined the land for phosphate, its depth, 
thickness of statum, etc., a field is selected and drained by 
means of trenches, technically known as “line pits,” dug around 
the tract and reaching below the level of the rock bed. This field 
is about 600 yards wide, and made as long as possible for trans¬ 
portation of the rock dug A tram-road for horse, or steam, 
is constructed through the midst of the field in its length, and 
then, commencing at the “ line pits” and working in towards 
the tram, pits measuring 6 by 12 feet, are sunk in long par¬ 
aded lines. The superincumbent earth is thrown up with 
shovels behind the men, and the phosphate rock dug out 
with picks and cast on the untouched ground in front When 
trees are in the field they are undermined ai d thrown over 
on the side which has already been excavated. The rock is 
rolled from the pits in barrows and dumped on platforms on 
the roadside, whence it is loaded into cars for transportation 
to the washers. The labor on the phosphate fields is performed 
almost altogether by negroes, sometimes convict labor being 
employed. Italians have occasionally been imported as labor- 


ers, but they have not been found to do the work required as 
well as the blacks, who alone can stand the hot suns and 
malaria of the phosphate swamps in summer. The hands are 
not generally paid by the day, but by the foot dug, the price 
being in most mines twenty-five cents a foot for a pit of (3 by 
12 feet, the rolling of the rock inclusive. At this wages they 
make about a dollar a day on the average, sometimes more 
and sometimes less, according to the character of the land, and 
depth of rock from the surface. Land miners have not con¬ 
sidered it profitable to work deposits at a greater depth than 
eight feet beneath the surface. 

The clay, sand, &c adhering to the rock, which amounts to 
one-half or two-thirds of the whole mass, are removed by 
washing. The crude rock as it comes from the pit is carried 
to the washers, large heavy pieces of machinery worked by 
steam, and situated near some creek or river where there is 
an ample supply of water. The rock is here passed first 
through roller crushers armed with steel teeth, which break 
up the larger nodules to a uniform size of not more than four 
inches in diameter. These then fall into long wooden troughs 
or tubs resting on a slight incline through which resolve wooden 
shafts furnished with iron teeth fixed in the form of a spiral 
screw. The nodules being forced by the screw up the incline 
against a strong stream of water are rubbed one on the other 
until, cleansed of all clay etc., they are thrown out at the open 
end of the tub After being screened they are then transport¬ 
ed to the dry-sheds, or dumped outside the washer building. 

The land deposits are owned by companies or individuals, 
or are leased upon a royalty for a term of years. 


THE WORK.[NO OF TIIE RfVER DEPOSIT. 


The river deposit is now worked principally by dredging ; 
but some years ago before the shallower creeks were ex¬ 
hausted of rock, large quantities of phosphate were raised by 
“ Handpicking,” “ Tongsing” and “Diving.” “ Handpicking” 
was resorted to in such deposits as run dry at low water, and 
consisted in loosening the nodules by means of the pick and 
crow-bar, and throwing them into flat boats to be carried to 
the shore. “Tongsing” was the term applied to raising such 
deposits as were too deep to be handpicked, but which were 
within reach of the oyster tongs. Diving was occasionally 
practiced by the negroes in summer in water from 6 to 10 feet 
<l3ep, to bring up large loose nodules, which were too heavy to 
life with the tongs. These apparently primitive methods of 
working answered admirably as long as the deposits were 
shallow and labor cheap; but it was not long before the more 
P owerful appliances of steam and machinery came into use. 

A very large portion of the Carolina phosphate, and by far 
the largest portion of the river deposits, are now raised by 
dredging from deep waters, where the nodules lie on the hot- 


8 


tom sometimes covered by a layer of sand and mud several' 
feet in thickness. The dredges heretofore employed have 
been found to work best in not more than twelve feet water, 
twenty feet being the limit. At this depth they are able to 
tear up the thickest and hardest phosphate beds; and under 
favorable circumstances as much as 100 tons of rock a day have- 
been raised to the dredge. The dredge, which is the ordinary 
single machine, empties the mass of nodules, marl, sand, mud, 
shells, etc., on a floating washer of simpler though similar con¬ 
struction to that employed for washing land rock. The clean 
rock is loaded into “lighters” or barges, and transported to- 
dry-sheds on shore. 

Several efforts have recently been made with special!}' 
adapted machines to raise the deposit lying at greater depths,, 
and in larger quantity than the ordinary dredge can do, but so 
far none of these attempts have been successful. At the present 
time there are two immense dredging machines in progress of 
construction which are calculated to do more and better work 
than has yet been done, but these machines are not at work, 
and no opinion, therefore, can be formed of them. There is no¬ 
doubt, however, that the more inaccessible deposits will be- 
excavated whenever the demand for phosphate is sufficient to 
necessitate the supply, and though that day may not yet have- 
arrived, it is not so far distant. 

One of the most important operations in the preparation of 
phosphate rock for market is the drying of it, though it is one- 
which has been much neglected by phosphate miners. The- 
river rock has long been dried for foreign shipment in order to 
lessen the cost of freight, and to raise the per centage of phos¬ 
phate of lime in the rock. But land rock, which has been chief¬ 
ly consumed at home, is seldom dried even now to less than six 
or seven per cent, of water, and contains often as much as ten 
per cent., the local Fertilizer works purchasing the rock wet 
and drying it as needed 

The most satisfactory method of drying employed so far is 
the hot-air process, sun drying being too slow and uncertain to 
be efficacious, and other methods tried having proved too 
expensive on the large scale. A hot blast of air is forced by a 
fan through perforated iron pipes into a brick kiln or dry-shed; 
into these sheds which hold 500 tons and over, the wet"rock is 
dumped upon the pipes, over which are sometimes laid logs of 
w’ood to aid in distributing the heat through the mass. In 
this way 500 tons can be dried in thirty-six hours to from one 
to three per cent, of moisture. This process would seem to 
entail a great w r aste of heat and fuel, but it answers sufficiently 
w r ell in practice, and as long as wood is cheap is more eco¬ 
nomical than any other. 

The river miners work under charters from the State, which 
grant them a general right to work a specified territory with 
any other comers, or under an exclusive right to such territo- 


ry. In either case they pay a royalty to the .State of $1.00 for 
every ton of rock raised. 

Number and Names of Companies Mining Phosphate Rock. 

The following list gives the names of the Companies at 
present engaged in mining land and river rock : 


Land Mining Companies. 

(1.) Charleston Mining and 
Manufacturing Co. (Works 
on Ashley River, near 
Charleston.) 

(2.) Gregg’s Phosphate Mines. 
(Works on Ashley River, 
near Charleston.) 

(3.) Pinckney’s Phosphate 
Mines. ( Works on Ashley 
River, near Charleston.) 

(4.) Rose Phosphate Mining 
and Manufacturing Co, 
(Works on Ashley River, 
near Charleston.) 

(5.) Pacific Guano Co. (Works 
on Bull River.) 

(6.) St. Andrew’s Phosphate 
Mining Co. (Works on 
Stono River.) 

(7.) Wando Phosphate Mines. 
(Works on Ashley River, 
near Charleston.) 

(8.) Bradley’s Phosphate 
Mines. (Works on Ran- 
towles’ Creek, near Char¬ 
leston.) 

(9.) Drayton k Co.’s Phosphate 
Mines. (Works on Ashley 
River, near Charleston.) 

(lO.)Bolton Phosphate Mines, 
(Works on Stono River, 
near Charleston.) 

(ll.)Chisolm Phosphate Mines. 
(Works on Ashley River, 
near Charleston.) 

(12.)Fishburne Phosphate 
Mines. (Works on Ashley 
River, near Charleston.) 

(13.)Pon-pon Phosphate Mines 
(Works on Edisto River.) 

(14.)Dotte rer’s Phosphate 
Mines. (Works on Church 
Creek, near Charleston.) 


River Mining Companies. 

(1.) Coo saw Mining Co. 
(Works on Coosaw River, 
near Beaufort.) 

(2.) Oak Point Mines Co. 
(Works on Wimbee Creek, 
near Beaufort.) 

(3.) Sea Island Chemical Co.. 
(Works on Beaufort 
River.) 

(4,) Farmer’s Phosphate Co. 
(Works on Coosaw River.) 

(5.) Hume Bros. & Co. (Works 
on Beaufort River.) 

In addition to these the 
following individuals are 
mining on a smaller scale 
on general rights: 

(6.) David Roberts. (On Wim- 
l)C0 ( rook.) 

(7.) «J. W. Seabrook. (On Mor¬ 
gan River.) 

(8.) J. M. Crofut. (On Beau¬ 
fort River.) 

(9.) J. DeB. k J. Seabrook. 
(On Parrot Creek.) 

(lO.)Willis Wilkinson. (On 
Stono River.) 

(11)J. G. Taylor. (On Parrot 
(’reek.) 


10 


The Land Mining Companies engaged employ a capital of 
$1,980,000; 1,286 hands, with $363,560 wages. Their products 
amount to $1,283,830. 

The River Mining Companies engaged employ a capital of 
$525,000; 649 hands, with $259,300 wages. Their products 
amount to $907,170. 

The total capital employed is $2,505 000; number of hands, 
1,935; wages, $622,860 ; products, $2,190,000. 

(See Hand Book of State.) 

Mined and Shipped. 

The following table gives the total amount of phosphate 
pock mined and shipped since the discovery of the South 
Carolina deposits: 



Tons. 


Tons. 

1868-70. 

.. 20,000 

1878. 

. 210 000 

1871. 

.. 50,000 

1879. 

. 200,000 

1872. 

.: 60,000 

1880. 

. 190,000 

1873. 

.. 90,000 

1881. 

. 265,000 

1874. 

..100,000 

1882. 

. 330,000 

1875. 

..115,000 

1883. 


1876. 

1877. 

..135,000 

165 000 

1884. 

. 409,000 

Total. 

Of this amount: 



.2,699,000 

Tons. 

River Rock. 



.1,229,170 

Land Rock. 




Total. 





This amount at the very moderate average of six dollars per 
ton has given to the State $16,149,000, of which the State has 
been benefited by a royalty of $1,229,170. 

The cost of production per ton varies. It is estimated at 
$4.50, including the payment of royalty and other expenses. 
Upwards .of one hundred thousand tons of crude rock are an¬ 
nually consumed by the fertilizer manufactories of South 
Carolina. 

The value of the phosphate now annually mined is $2,500,- 
000. The royalty paid to the State in 1884 was $153 797,02, 
being one dollar per ton paid as moved by the marine com¬ 
panies. The taxes levied on the product of the land com¬ 
panies, and the heavy tax on the ferti.izer manufacturers are 
exclusive of this large amount of revenue. 

See Annual Report of News and Courier, and View of the 
(Industrial Life of the State.) 























11 


TIIE EXTENT OF THE PHOSPHATE DEPOSIT. 

No systematic survey, determining the extent of these 
deposits, has yet been attempted. The only information on 
this head comes from prospectors, seeking easily accessible 
rock in localities convenient for shipment. Widely varying 
estimates as to the quantity of the rock have been ventured. 
Some have placed it as high as five hundred millions of tons, 
and others as low as five millions. The latter is the estimate 
of Dr. C. U. Shepard, Jr., who has prepared a map of the region. 
He traced the deposit over 240,000 acres, and estimates the 
accessible rock as covering only about 10,000 acres. Even this 
estimated area at 800 tons per acre, which he gives as an aver¬ 
age, should yield 8,000,000 tons. But if we examine a single 
mining region, as that for instance occupied by the Coosaw 
Company, we must conclude that he has very greatly underes¬ 
timated the amount. This Company has the exclusive right to 
a territory of about 6,000 acres in Coosaw River, besides the 
adjacent marshes yet unexplored. Everywhere the river bot¬ 
tom is covered with rock, which for the most part forms a solid 
sheet, varying from eight inches to one and one-half feet in 
thickness. Taking the lesser thickness, we have, with a spe¬ 
cific gravity of 2.5, after subtracting twenty-five i>er cent, 
for loss in washing or drying, something more than 1,700 
tons to the acre, which would give for the river territory alone 
belonging to this one Company something more than ten mil¬ 
lions of tons. And in effect this Company (which is the only 
thoroughly equipped river mining company now at work. 
1881,) consider in spite of their large plant * * * * * 

that their supply of material is practically unlimited. (Hand 
Book of the State.) 

COMPETITION FROM OTHER QUARTERS. 

But it may be asked, is our little State the sole possessor of 
these phosphate beds; or have we to fear competition from other 
quarters ? The deposits of phosphate rock have been found at 
various points along the South Atlantic Coast, reaching from 
North Carolina to Florida, and also in Alabama- But these 
deposits have not yet been sufficiently developed to compete 
with the South Carolina phosphate, and will probably not come 
into the market until our deposits are nearly exhausted. There 
are numerous phosphate deposits in Europe, among which 
may be mentioned the Spanish Phosphorite, the Canadian 
Apatite, the Bordeaux and Nassau phosphates, the English 
and French Coprolites, the Belgian phosphates, the Navassa 
phosphate, and the Guanoes of the Islands of the Pacific Ocean; 
but none of these phosphates, though some are much richer 
than ours, can at present compete with us in accessibility, 
■cheapness and uniform quality. Occasionally there are ru¬ 
mors of vast deposits being discovered in Russia, in the Pacific 


12 


Islands, etc.; but so far the South Carolina phosphate forms 
the back bone, so to speak, of the phosphate industry not only 
of America, but of England. And it should be remembered, 
moreover, that even should we meet with competition abroad 
and thus lose the foreign trade in phosphate, which is now 
very large, our home trade is ever on the increase, and that it 
is to the Western and Southwestern States of the Union that 
we should look for our future field of consumption In this 
field, at any rate, we need hardly fear competition as long as 
these deposits can supply the demand. 

THE MANUFACTURE OF COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

The gigantic manufacture of artificial manures is based on 
the treatment of phosphate of lime with sulphuric acid, by 
■which the phosphate of calcium is decomposed, sulphate of 
calcium formed, and the phosphoric acid converted into a 
soluble acid calcium salt (a superphosphate), or else reduced to 
the free state. The suggestion to act on bones with sulphuric 
acid was made by Liebig (1840); the utilization of Crystalline 
and Fossil phosphates by a similar treatment was the work of 
Lawes (1843). 

The process of manufacturing superphosphate of lime ordi¬ 
narily employed, which is the one carried out at the Fertilizer 
Works near Charleston, is briefly as follows : The kiln dried 
phosphate rock is ground to powder in mills such are used for 
grinding flour, and then treated with sulphuric acid in the 
proportion of 900 pounds of Chamber acid of 49 degrees Beaume 
to 1,000 pounds of phosphate. This is performed by machinery 
in so-called “ mixing tubs ” or “ manure mixers,” the product 
being a superphosphate containing ten to tw T elve per cent, 
soluble phosphoric acid. From the mixer the manure, which is 
still liquid, is run into store-houses where it is allowed to set. 
It becomes so hard after a time that it has to be cut down with 
a pick, and the lumps passed through a disintegrator to reduce 
them to powder, which is then filled into bags and is ready for 
shipment. Ce tain gases are given off during the mixing; these 
are carbonic acid, fluoride of silicon, hydrochloric acid and 
water. Most of these are extremely irritating to the lungs, 
and injurious to health and vegetation, their perfect removal 
is a vital necessity, and flues for this purpose are placed above 
the mixer. 

In making most phosphate manures a mixture of ingredi¬ 
ents is employed. Either it is desired to produce a manure 
containing a certain definite percentage of soluble phosphate, 
or to introduce nitrogen and potash into the manure. To at¬ 
tain the first object, a higher and lower quality of phosphate 
are mixed together before treating it with acid : for the second 
object the acid super-phosphate is mixed afterwards with am- 
moniacal matter—dried blood, fish scrap, etc., and German 
potash salts (kainit, or muriate of potash). The manures re- 


13 


suiting from such mixtures are known as “acid phosphate,” 
“dissolved bone,” ‘‘ammoniated acid phosphate,” “complete 
fertilizer,” “ash element,” etc. 

All the more important fertilizer works near Charleston 
- manufacture their own sulphuric acid ; this indeed constitutes 
one of their most expensive operations. For this purpose 
sulphur is imported from Sicily, only one of the works near 
Beaufort using iron pyrites from Spain. 

Superphosphate of lime supplies to the soil large quantities 
of phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, and lime, and, in the case 
of a mixed manure, also nitrogen and potash. In analyses of 
super-phosphates the phosphoric acid is estimated in three 
forms, as soluble in water, soluble in citrate of ammonia, and 
insoluble. The soluble phosphate (by which is meant phos¬ 
phate soluble in water) consists of monocalcium phosphate 
with some free phosphoric acid. When applied to the 
land the soluble phosphate is dissolved by rain, and distri¬ 
buted more or less throughout the surrounding soil. When 
thus brought in contact with fertile soil, the soluble phosphate 
is more or less speedily precipitated. This precipitation is 
brought about either by the carbonate of lime in the soil, or 
by the hydrated oxide of iron and alumina present In the 
first case a more or less insoluble phosphate of lime, and in 
the second a basic phosphate of iron and alumina are formed. 
As basic phosphates of iron and alumina are certainly forms 
of phosphoric acid which can only be slowly appropriated by 
plants, it is evident that the main effect of soluble phosphate 
must be yielded within a short time of its application. The 
insoluble phosphate of the superphosphate was formerly sup¬ 
posed to consist simply of the orignal phosphate of the material 
which had escaped the action of the acid; we now know that 
the insoluble phosphates consist partly, and in some super¬ 
phosphates largely, of “reduced” or “reverted” phosphates, 
that is phosphates which have gone back to the insoluable con¬ 
dition owing to the action of the lime, iron, and alumina. 
There has lately been much discussion in the agricultural and 
chemical world as to the manorial value of these reduced and 
insoluble phosphates as compared with the phosphates solu¬ 
ble in water. It has been argued by some that the manorial 
value of reduced phosphate must be equal to that of soluble 
phosphate, because soluble phosphate becomes itself reduced 
after contact with the soil; and hence they have consented to 
call at least a part of these reduced phosphates “available” 
in the soil. Others have gone farther, and maintain that the 
non-crystalline insoluble phospligte, such as the Carolina 
phosphates, when ground to an impalpable powder, and com¬ 
posted with vegetable matter producing carbonic acid upon 
decomposition, or used along with certain leguminous plants 
as a fallow crop, are equally efficacious as reduced, or even 
super-phosphate. They hold that the use of sulphuric acid 


14 


in the manufacture of super-phosphate is not only unneces¬ 
sary and expensive, but absolutely injurious. The late Dr. St. 
J. Ravenel, of Charleston, was of this opinion, in which he is 
confirmed by the views of several distinguished chemists in 
England, Scotland, France, and Germany, and by practical re¬ 
sults in the field, both at home and abroad. 

NUMBER OF COMPANIES ENGAGED IN MANUFACTURING FERTI¬ 
LIZERS IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 

There are at present engaged in manufacturing commercial 
fertilizers in South Caroliua : 

(1) . The Atlantic Phosphate Company—capital $200,000 ; 
works located on Ashley River, near Charleston. 

(2) . The Stono Phosphate Company—capital $135,000; works 
located on Ashley River, near Charleston. 

(3) . The Etiwan Phosphate Company—capital $300,000; 
works located on Cooper River, near Charleston. 

(4) . The Pacific Guano Company—capital $1,000,000 ; works 
located on Ashley River, near Charleston. 

(5) . The Wando Phosphate Company—capital $100,000; 
works located on Ashley River, near Charleston. 

(0). The Ashepoo Phosphate Company—capital $50,000;. 
works located on Ashley River, near Charleston. 

(7) . The Edisto Phosphate Company—capital $200,000 
works located on Cooper River, near Charleston. 

(8) . The Ashley Phosphate Company—capital $100,000 
works located on Central wharf, Charleston. 

(9) . The Wilcox & Gibbs Guano Company; works located 
on Cooper River, Charleston. 

(10) . The Hume Bros. Phosphate Company—capital $500,000 ; 
works located on Beaufort River, near Beaufort. 

(11) . The Port Royal Fertilizing Company—capital $125,000 - 
works located on Battery Creek, near Port Royal. 


15 


MANUFACTURED 

FERTI LIZERS 

SHIPPED. 


The following table gives the total 
shipped since 1871 : 

amount of 

fertilizers 

Charleston. 

Savannah. 

Port Royal. 

1871. 

Tons. 

. 20,487 
. 27,447 

1872. 

Tons. 

37,183 

32,922 

1873. 

Tons. 

56,298 

56,296 

1874. 

Tons. 

46,302 

30,895 






Total. 

. 47,934 

70,105 

112,594 

77,197 

(Tiarleston. 

Savannah.. 

Port Royal. 

1875. 

. 49,500 
. 33,187 
. 4,000 

1876. 

47,381 

33,000 

12,000 

1877. 

45,766 

45,591 

26,000 

1878. 

52,000 

61,500 

15,000 

Total . 

. 86,687 

92,381 

117,357 

128,500 

('harleston. 

Savannah. 

Port Roval. 

1879. 

. 55,000 
. 60,000 
. 12,000 

1880. 

80.000 

65,000 

26,000 

1881. 

100,000 

110,000 

39,245 

1882. 

95,000 

100,000 

28,279 

Total. 

127,000 

181,000 

249,245 

223,279 

Charleston.. 

Savannah. 

Port Royal. 


1883. 

.130,000 

.125 000 

. 25,000 


1884. 

143,790 

70,000 

23,094 

Total. 


.280,000 


236,884 


Note.— Of the shipments from Port Royal, 11,022 tons were 
fertilizers manufactured at the works in Beaufort.—[See An¬ 
nual Report of News and Courier .] 


CONSUMPTION OF FERTILIZERS. 

In a compilation by Mr. De Ghequier, Secretary of the 
Chemical and Fertilizer Exchange of Baltimore, we find : 


Total consumption oi jommercial fertilizers in Tons. 

Southern States.400,000 

Delaware, Eastern States. 25,000 

Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey. 90.000 

New England States. 40,000. 

Western States. 20,000 


Total 


635,000 






















































1G 


According to this statement, it would appear that the South 
Carolina companies are able to produce at least one-third of 
the whole amount of fertilizers consumed in the United States. 

CONCLUSION. 

In this sketch, which has necessarily been brief and imper¬ 
fect, attention has been drawn only to the most remarkable 
facts in the history, origin and development of the South Car¬ 
olina phosphates. Statistics up to date have been given, 
showing that the phosphate industry has steadily increased in 
importance every year since the discovery of the deposits, 
until to-day it constitutes the largest and most successful en¬ 
terprise in the State. The benefit that has been conferred, 
not only upon the planters of the State and the Southern 
country in general, but also upon the whole agricultural world, 
by the development of these phosphates, cannot now be com¬ 
puted. For ourselves, it is impossible to realize what we 
would have done without them, and we dread to think of the 
•day when they will have become exhausted. I venture to say, 
however, that this last we need not fear at least for years, even 
generations to come. And by the time that South Carolina 
has exhausted her supply, let us hope that the deposits in 
some of our sister States will have been sufficiently developed 
not only to furnish us with phosphates as bountifully as we 
have done them, but have enough to spare for the rest of the 
world. 



